Verizon workers prepare for a strike [telecom]

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BY Pam Galpern

Verizon wants to drive down costs, shrink its union workforce even further, and get out of the landline business. But in negotiations this summer it's coming head-to-head with its unions, who want to protect gains won through decades of struggle.

The Communications Workers of America (CWA) and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) began bargaining a new contract in June for 38,000 telecom workers in the Northeast from Maine to Virginia. (Full disclosure: The author works for Verizon and is a member of CWA.)

The company raked in $9.6 billion in profits last year, and paid its top five executives $44 million. Yet it opened bargaining with a laundry list of giveback demands.